New data shows the average credit card carrying American has around $5,700 in debt.
That same report shows, the average interest rates on that piece of plastic is hovering around 20 percent! Meaning, you're paying more for whatever you charge. So, I turned to a credit expert with Experian to help you tackle those payments.
Christina Roman tells me there are two common approaches for reducing debt. The Avalanche method: pay the card with the highest amount or rate first, or the snowball method: tackling the smallest balance to build momentum for the larger ones. It's really whatever works for you.
The key is to never miss a minimum payment -- at minimum. Missing a billing cycle means that impacts your credit score for up to 7 years!
"If you want to tackle your credit card debt, it's really important to get a complete understanding of how much debt you're currently in," Roman said. "I always recommend that people get a copy of their credit report, as well as their FICO score or credit score in general. Experian offers your Experian Credit Report and your FICO score for free monthly. Now this is a great tool because when you get your credit score, it's going to tell you what factors are helping or hurting your credit score. It's also going to help you looking at your credit report is also going to help you to get a complete picture of your current debt situation."
Christina tells me once you do pay off a card, try to not cancel it completely. She says the reason why is because on a credit report, it reduces your overall "available" credit -- so it actually looks like you're carrying more debt, because your available credit it lower.
She tells me just cut the card, or take it out of your digital wallet so you're not tempted.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
